THE PRESIDENT: I'm so honored that Kofi Annan has come back to the
Oval Office. We've had a great discussion. I briefed him on my trip
to Africa, his native continent. And I told him that I was most
impressed with the possibilities of the continent. I saw the potential
and I also saw many of the problems. And I want to thank the Secretary
General for his work on hunger and HIV/AIDS. We have got a -- we're
going to work closely with him to help defeat the pandemic.

The other thing we talked about was Liberia. I assured him that
our government's position is a strong position. We want to enable
ECOWAS to get in and help create the conditions necessary for the
cease-fire to hold, that Mr. Taylor must leave, that we'll participate
with the troops. We're in the process, still, of determining what is
necessary, what ECOWAS can bring to the table, when they can bring it
to the table, what is the timetable, and be able to match the necessary
U.S. help to expediting the ECOWAS' participation.

I told the Secretary General that we want to help, that there must
be a U.N. presence, quickly, into Liberia. He and I discussed how fast
it would take to blue helmet whatever forces arrived, other than our
own, of course. We would not be blue helmeted. We would be there to
facilitate and then to -- and then to leave.

And we had a good discussion. And I think we had a meeting of
minds on that subject.

We talked about Iraq. And I told him and assured him that the
United States would stay the course because we believe freedom is on
its way to the Iraqi people. And by that, I mean that the Iraqi people
are beginning to assume more and more responsibility in their society.
Free society requires a certain kind of responsible behavior. And
we're seeing more and more of that amongst the Iraqi citizens. Our
deep desire is to make sure that the infrastructure is repaired, that
people are educated, and health care delivery systems are good.

I was honest in my appraisal when I told him that I recognize
certain elements of the former regime are interested in keeping the
infrastructure blown up because of -- for pure power reasons. And
that, I told him, and I will continue to speak as clearly as I can that
an attack on the Iraqi infrastructure by the Baathist is an attack on
the Iraqi people. And it's those Iraqis are causing the continued
suffering, where there's suffering in Iraq.

But we're making good progress. I'm proud of Jerry Bremer's work.
And then the -- we also talked about other issues that are on his mind
and my mind. The long/short of it is we had a great discussion. Mr.
Secretary General, I'm honored you're here.

SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I
think it is fair to say that it's wonderful that I should be meeting
the President soon after the return -- his return from Africa, my own
continent. We weren't too far away. I was in Mozambique when he was
in South Africa and Botswana.

But I would want to thank the President for the interest in the
continent and his determination to help defeat the AIDS pandemic. I
think it is a tragedy that is not only taking away the future of
Africa, it is really destroying the present.

And this is -- it's a disease that takes parents away from
children, teachers away from students, doctors away from hospitals. So
the effort that is going in is absolutely worthwhile. And at the
African Union Summit, this topic was very much on everyone's mind.

We also discussed, as the President has indicated, the situation in
Liberia. And I'm satisfied with the discussions we've had and the
approach the U.S. government is taking. And, of course, there is an
assessment team in West Africa, but we have more or less agreed to a
general approach on the Liberian issue. And I'm very pleased with
that.

We talked about at least where the President has made a
difference. Over the past couple of weeks, things are going in the
right direction. We have bumps in the road, but I think with the
determination of the leaders and the support of the international
community, we will make progress on this very difficult issue.

In Iraq, we were encouraged to see the formation of the government
council yesterday. And I must say that my special representative,
Sergio Vieira and Mr. Bremer are working very well together.

And on the Hill, I indicated that regardless of the differences
that existed between nations before the war, now we have a challenge.
The challenge is to stabilize Iraq, to help Iraq to become a peaceful,
stable and prosperous state. And I think everyone needs to help. An
Iraq that is at peace with itself and its neighbors, what's in the
interest of the neighbors and the entire international community.

So I would want to see the entire community, international
community, come together to assist the Iraqi people, and to help us
stabilize a region.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Kofi.

Q Mr. President, thank you. On Iraq, what steps are being
taken to ensure that questionable information, like the Africa uranium
material, doesn't come to your desk and wind up in your speeches?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me first say that -- I think the
intelligence I get is darn good intelligence. And the speeches I have
given were backed by good intelligence. And I am absolutely convinced
today, like I was convinced when I gave the speeches, that Saddam
Hussein developed a program of weapons of mass destruction, and that
our country made the right decision.

We worked with the United Nations -- as Kofi mentioned, not all
nations agreed with the decision, but we worked with the United
Nations. And Saddam Hussein did not comply. And it's the same
intelligence, by the way, that my predecessor used to make the decision
he made in 1998.

We are in the process now of interrogating people inside of Iraq,
looking at documents, exploring documents to determine the extent that
-- what we can find as quickly as possible. And I believe, firmly
believe, that when it's all said and done, the people of the United
States and the world will realize that Saddam Hussein had a weapons
program.

Q On Liberia, are you now telling us that you will send U.S.
troops to Liberia, and how many, and when will this happen?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, that's -- what I'm telling you is that we
want to help ECOWAS, it may require troops, but we don't know how many
yet. And, therefore, it's hard for me to make a determination until
I've seen all the facts. And as Kofi mentioned -- or the Secretary
General mentioned, excuse me -- (laughter) -- a little informal here.
They are still -- our teams, our military is assessing ECOWAS'
strength, how soon, how quick, what kind of troops, who they are, to
determine what is necessary, from our side, to fulfill the commitment I
have made, that we will help maintain the cease-fire.

By the way, this is conditional upon Mr. Taylor leaving. He's got
to leave. I think everybody understands that. We discussed that, by
the way, in Nigeria, with President Obasanjo, who clearly understands
that, as well. But we're still, Steve, determining the facts. It is
very difficult for me to make a decision until I see the facts.

Q Well, what do you think?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know. That's an interesting
question. We asked that question today at a national security
briefing. And as soon as we can get it -- the Secretary General has
been very helpful in urging nations to move forward with these plans.
We hear numbers all the time as to -- you know, Nigeria may be able to
contribute this, or so and so may be able to contribute that. Maybe
you'd like to answer the question -- I mean, as soon as possible is the
answer. We'd like to get the assessment teams. There has been two
such teams out and about, and we'd like to get the information as soon
as possible.

SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN: And Jacques Klein is going to be the
special representative, the gentleman with the red tie, in Liberia. So
you'll be seeing a lot of him, and you can talk to him.

Q No long term commitments --

THE PRESIDENT: Correct. I think everybody understands, any
commitment we had would be limited in size and limited in tenure. Our
job would be to help facilitate an ECOWAS presence which would then be
converted into a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN: Maybe I should add something here. The
understanding which is emerging now is for the ECOWAS forces to send in
a vanguard of about 1,000 to 1,500 troops. And I think this is
something that they have worked out amongst themselves and now
discussing in Accra with the -- also with the U.S. team. After that,
from what I gather, Taylor -- President Taylor will leave Liberia, and
then the force will be strengthened, hopefully with U.S. participation,
and additional troops from the West African region. Eventually, U.N.
blue helmets will be set up to stabilize the situation, along the lines
that we've done in Sierra Leone, and once the situation is calmer and
stabilized, U.S. would leave and the U.N. peacekeepers would carry on
the situation.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Dana, one last question.

Q Mr. President, back on the question of Iraq, and that
specific line that has been in question --

THE PRESIDENT: Can you cite the line? (Laughter.)

Q I could, if you gave me some time.

THE PRESIDENT: When I gave the speech, the line was relevant.

Q So even though there has been some question about the
intelligence -- the intelligence community knowing beforehand that
perhaps it wasn't, you still believe that when you gave it --

THE PRESIDENT: Well, the speech that I gave was cleared by the
CIA. And, look, the thing that's important to realize is that we're
constantly gathering data. Subsequent to the speech, the CIA had some
doubts. But when I gave the -- when they talked about the speech and
when they looked at the speech, it was cleared. Otherwise, I wouldn't
have put it in the speech. I'm not interested in talking about
intelligence unless it's cleared by the CIA. And as Director Tenet
said, it was cleared by the CIA.

The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam
Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we
gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them
in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove
him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not
a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the
region. I firmly believe the decisions we made will make America more
secure and the world more peaceful.